All About My Crazy Experiment In Under 10 Minutes

Table of Contents

I recently agreed to try a crazy experiment in the name of
science and conquering boredom. The specifics: Gain as
much weight as possible in 4 weeks, lose as much weight as
possible in 5 days, and try to gain it all back in
24 hours.
Click here read the Introduction.

A quick, easily-digestible summary of what happened in my
34-day extreme weight manipulation experiment. I also
introduce my coaches, Martin Rooney and Dr. John Berardi.
Click here to get all the details.

This book is a crash-course of his journey, with specific tools you can use too.

Download the Nutrition Plan and Workout. Read his day-to-day diary and laugh at his expense. Skim the “Knowledge Bombs” and learn the science behind why things happened the way they did.

Then use it all to build yourself a muscular, athletic body and live a bigger life.

But first, read this summary and get all the details on what really went down and why.

Who Are You?

My name is Nate Green and I’m the Program Director of Scrawny To Brawny, a 12-month online coaching program for guys who want to build muscle and live an awesome life.

I’m also a writer, weight-lifter, self-experimenter, and — as my girlfriend recently pointed out — a heavy mouth-breather who moans when he chews food. Though I have no idea what she’s talking about.

What Is This All About?

I tried gaining as much quality mass (mostly muscle, not a lot of fat) as I could in 28 days. Then I tried to lose it all in 5 days. Then I tried to gain it all back in 24 hours.

Why The Hell Did You Want To Do That?

A few reasons.

Reason Number 1

As a former skinny guy I’ve always been interested in gaining muscle. When I was in my late teens I weighed 145 pounds at 5’9”, which to me was way too skinny.

But after a couple years of hard work in the gym — and with help from some influential mentors — I put on over 40 pounds of muscle.

Changing my body gave me more confidence and purpose, which in turn helped me create a rewarding life for myself.

So I wanted to try this experiment to see how quickly I could change my body again, what it would feel like, and if it led to any significant realizations about myself or changed my outlook on the world.

Reason Number 2

As the program director for an online muscle-building coaching program, I wanted to put myself in the position we ask our clients to get in. Namely, to trust their coach and get comfortable being incredibly uncomfortable.

We ask our clients to eat lots of food, work out a few days per week, and adopt 24 new habits to help them gain muscle, become more athletic, and live better. But it’s really an act of faith on our clients’ part to trust that we know what we’re doing.

I wanted to see how difficult — or easy — it was to try something where I wasn’t sure of the outcome but was motivated to give it a shot.

Reason Number 3

As a black belt and as a fan of Mixed Martial Arts I was intrigued and impressed by a fighter’s ability to gain weight to move up a weight class, strategically cut 15 pounds or more to “make weight” before their big fight, and then super-hydrate back up to their original weight the next day before they pummeled their opponent.

That’s pretty bad-ass stuff, and I wanted to see what it’s like. (Except the whole getting-punched-in-the-face part.)

And while the fighters are tested in competition, I’ve never heard of an experiment that has tested fighters during all three of the following phases: a) in peak shape, b) dehydrated and depleted before a fight, and c) rehydrated on fight night.

There were a lot of questions for which no one really seemed to have an answer, like:

How much strength and power do you lose when cutting weight?

How much strength and power do really gain back when you super-hydrate?

Is it possible to gain back every pound lost in time for a fight?

Who Helped You?

Good question.

Although I consider myself a smart guy, I knew before starting this experiment that I’d need help with my eating plan and workout program. So I decided to hire a coach. Two, actually.

Dr. John Berardi is a world-renowned expert on sport nutrition and is the Chief Science Officer for Precision Nutrition. JB (as I call him) has worked with UFC champion Georges St. Pierre and many other athletes from every major sport. He took care of my nutrition.

Martin Rooney is the CEO of Training For Warriors. A strength coach and bestselling author, he’s worked with hundreds of athletes, most notable for this project, UFC fighters (and brothers) Jim and Dan Miller. He took care of my training program.

What Kind Of Stuff Did You Track?

I had four testing days:

Day 0 (before the experiment, to get baseline numbers)

Day 28 (after the rapid weight gain)

Day 34 (after I super-hydrated back up)

Day 33 (after the rapid weight loss)

On those days I tested:

Weight

Body fat percentage

Vertical jump (power test)

225-pound bench press for repetitions (strength endurance test)

Girth measurements

Max-effort deadlift (strength test)

V-Max (test to determine maximum oxygen consumption)

T-Max (endurance test, also done on a treadmill)

I also weighed in on a digital scale at home every morning and kept a daily journal where I recorded whatever occurred to me as insightful, interesting, or so awful I had to write it down before I permanently pushed it out of my mind.

What Happened?

From top to bottom: days 0, 28, 33, and 34

The experiment was a huge success. Over the course of 34 days I:

Gained 20 pounds in 28 days. (Technically, 20.6 pounds.)

Lost 20 pounds in 5 days. (Technically, 20.5 pounds.)

Gained 17 pounds in 24 hours. (Technically, 16.9 pounds.)

Plus a bunch of random cool stuff happened including:

reducing my body fat in some areas during my rapid weight gain phase

dramatically increasing my strength

improving my resilience and becoming more mentally tough

nearly passing out in the sauna

nearly passing out in my living room after a hot water immersion bath

nearly passing out after seeing my grocery bill for the month

Day 0

Day 28

Day 33

Day 34

Weight

169.6

190.2

169.7

186.6

Girth Measurements

Neck

15.25

15.38

14.38

14.75

Shoulder

48

49.25

47.75

49.25

Chest

41.5

44

43.25

45

Upper Arm

14.75

16

15.13

15.5

Waist

31.5

32.25

31

32.5

Hip

38

39.5

38

38.25

Thigh

23.13

24.25

23.5

24.5

Calf

15.5

15.38

15

16

Body Fat Measurements

Mid-Ax

2.8

3.8

2.8

2.8

Cheek

2.8

5.7

5.7

5.7

Chest

2.8

4.7

1.9

3.8

Ab

7.6

3.8

6.7

2.8

Subscap

5.7

7.6

5.7

5.7

Triceps

2.8

3.8

2.8

2.8

Suprailiac

2.8

4.7

4.7

3.8

Knee

5.7

2.8

3.8

3.8

Hamstring

3.8

4.7

2.8

2.8

Calf

9.5

6.7

7.6

7.6

Body Fat (%)

3.03 (probably ~6)

4.1 (probably ~7)

3.2 (probably ~6)

3.37 (probably ~6)

Vertical Jump

Jump 1

25″

31″

26″

28″

Jump 2

29″

32″

29″

29″

Jump 3

30″

32″

28″

30″

Average

28″

31.7″

27.6″

29″

225 lb Bench Press

Reps

8

15

5

12

Deadlift

One-Rep Max (lbs)

405

475

N/A

N/A

V-Max

Speed (mph)

8

8

8

8

Incline (%)

8

6

3

6

Duration (min)

9:32

7:38

4:15

7:09

T-Max

Duration (min)

3:11

3:14

1:28

3:25

What Are The Big “Takeaways”?

I tried to make this book as comprehensive, useful, and entertaining as possible, so I think there are a lot of takeaways. But if I had to get down to four, it’d be these.

#1 This is a crazy-ass experiment that you probably shouldn’t try.

Not only was it uncomfortable and time-consuming, it’s simply not necessary to gain weight — or lose weight — as fast as I did. Probably not entirely healthy either.

Even if you really want to build muscle and change the way your body looks, there’s a healthier, more sustainable way to do it.

I’ve been working out for the past 10 years and put on most of my muscle during the first couple of years. And all our clients in the Scrawny To Brawny Coaching Program add anywhere from 15 to 40 pounds over the course of our year-long program.

That’s how you get the best results: over time, by adopting healthy habits, working within a trusted program, and having the support and help from guys who’ve been there before you.

Still, I don’t want to scare you away, either. There’s a lot here that you can try for yourself to build muscle. In fact, fighters, wrestlers, and others do extreme weight manipulation bouts all the time. Under supervision and with the right coaches, this kind of experiment isn’t that dangerous.

But unless you…

work from home

have 5+ years experience in the gym

can make time to spend upward of five hours every day eating

have access to Dr. John Berardi and Martin Rooney

…then I just wouldn’t recommend it.

#2 There are principles you must follow to build a muscular, athletic body.

Whether it’s a month-long experiment or a year-long coaching program, the principles of building muscle hold true. Although some of my methods may seem extreme, the principles I followed mirror any successful muscle-building program:

Eat more calories than you burn.

Eat 2 to 3 times the amount of protein.

Eat mostly nutrient-dense whole foods.

Do compound exercises in the gym.

Lift heavier weights.

Get 7+ hours of sleep every night.

Have protein and carbs after a workout.

Drink a lot of water.

So while it’s important to realize I went a bit crazy with some stuff (which I share in detail in the book) and tried some new methods (intermittent fasting for building muscle, for instance) it’s equally important to realize I followed proven principles, too. And if I hadn’t followed those principles, nothing worth writing about would have happened.

#3 Cutting weight is one of the hardest, most intense things a body can do.

I have a brand new respect for fighters, wrestlers, and anyone else who has to rapidly drop 15 to 20 pounds in just a few days.

It’s hard as shit.

Between completely eliminating starchy carbohydrates and salt, drastically reducing the amount of water I drank, and going back and forth from the sauna to hot-water immersion baths, I can say it was the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever done.

I spent hours in the sauna and honestly didn’t know if I’d “make weight.” And all I had riding on it was an idea for a book to write and give away. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I had a six- or seven-figure contract fight on the line and a guaranteed million viewers watching.

Much respect to all the fighters out there. And much respect for you too if you decide to try it.

#4 Having a coach and mentor is absolutely essential.

There’s no way I could have done this without the help of Dr. John Berardi and Martin Rooney. And I don’t mean that in some corny acceptance-speech kind of way.

I mean I literally could not have done this experiment without their help.

They took all the guesswork out of the equation for me and let me focus on what was really important: my daily actions.

They wrote my training programs and my eating plans and made adjustments as needed. I had complete trust in their experience and methods and didn’t have to do a lot of thinking. (I imagine this is what our clients feel like in the S2B Coaching Program.)

I simply followed a variation of Martin’s Training For Warriors program and ate the food JB recommended.

Plus throughout the experiment, Martin would send me random text messages. Like this one:

“You ready kid? This is the week where we see what you’re made of.”

Or this one:

“I don’t care what you have to do. Make that pound!”

Or this one (my favorite):

“Don’t lie. It’s OK to say it was hard as fuck and not much fun. I’m not stupid you know.”